Since you're reading this you already know that this online newspaper is going to charge to read "in depth" articles. This was heralded in the "drawing a happy face on it" headline "Get 15 stories free each month on our website."

Uh. Really? Prior to this, readers got all of the stories for free.

Now, according to the paper:

As always, readers can view an unlimited number of exclusive breaking news stories and community features on our home page, as well as full access to obituaries, and “section front” articles on sports, features and business pages.

We'll have to wait and see what this means. I suspect it will be similar to that you can read without a subscription on The Boston Globe: a very short summary of many stories with the message that if you want to learn more you have to subscribe.

Here's a hint. If a Boston Globe story is important enough it will be reported on the free area television station websites. The same generally goes for the major news stories covered by GateHouse Media papers.

I suppose it was a matter of time that GateHouse Media, which owns the Patriot Ledger, BrocktonEnterprise, Taunton Gazette, Standard Times, Cape Cod Times, Wicked Local among other papers in Massachusetts, would follow many other online newspapers and charge a fee for readers. GateHouse is owned by Fortress Investment Group. GateHouse filed for bankruptcy in September, 2013.

GateHouse Media Inc., has never made an annual profit as a public company, and last week filed for bankruptcy under the weight of nearly $1.2 billion in debt. Nonetheless, Fortress has embarked on a complicated series of moves that encompass the purchase of 33 more papers, including the Cape Cod Times and the Standard-Times of New Bedford, and a deal with creditors that would allow GateHouse to emerge from bankruptcy virtually debt free.

I reluctantly subscribed to The New York Times online when they began to charge in 2010, following in the steps of the Wall Street Journal. Currently they have a range of $195.00 a year to a whopping $455.00 annually, depending on which apps. you choose besides your computer.

I wasn't happy about it then, and I'm still not. (In fact, having written this, I just cancelled it.) I can get just about all the news that's fit to print, and lots that isn't, from The Huffington Post which not only doesn't charge, but doing so well it is opening international editions on a regular basis.

These online expenses may seem small at first, at least for most people with some discretionary income. However they can add up. Unsubscribing isn't always easy either. More often than not your subscription, using a credit, is indefinite. Unlike print magazines, for example, you don't subscribe for a given period and have to renew at the end of that term.

Most people don't take the time to make a cost benefit analysis. Just how often do you watch HBO or Showtime? Is it worth the premium channel subscription just to watch one or two of your favorite shows?

Like me, many people have discovered streaming video on a device like the Roku (which I wrote about last year). I am now paying for Amazon Prime, NetFlix and the less expensive British AcornTV. That's a total of $300.00 a year. I'm now on a cost cutting endeavor, so I'm comparing Amazon Prime with NetFlix to decide which one to drop and save another $79.00 a year.